Workshop Registration

Advanced Mobile Production

This in-depth, hands-on workshop is designed for filmmakers, content creators, and and media professionals who want to elevate smartphone filmmaking to professional broadcast and cinematic standards. Participants will gain a practical understanding of codecs — the foundation of image capture — and learn how recording formats impact image quality, file management, and post-production workflows. The session covers 10-bit LOG shooting and color grading, showing how to unlock increased dynamic range, richer color, and greater creative flexibility in post.

Building on this foundation, the workshop explores advanced mobile production techniques including ProRes RAW capture on the iPhone 17 Pro, AI-powered tracking with drones and gimbals for solo creators. From walking and talking shots to sports, action, and vehicle tracking, participants will see how mobile tools dramatically expand storytelling possibilities. We then introduce virtual production on a phone using JetSet, demonstrating how green-screen-style compositing and virtual environments can now be created on location, in real time, using only a smartphone.

Participants will then be introduced to native cinematic tools built into modern smartphones, including advanced slow motion, depth-of-field control, panoramic imaging, and spatial capture, with a focus on the iPhone 17 Pro while acknowledging rapid adoption across Android platforms. Finally, the workshop concludes with an introduction to LiDAR, AR, and spatial imaging, explaining how LiDAR improves low-light performance, enables 3D scanning and AR placement, and forms the foundation for spatial content designed for emerging wearable technologies. By the end of this workshop, participants will understand not just how to shoot on a smartphone, but be provided with a forward-looking toolkit for creating high-quality, future-ready mobile content that can stand alongside traditional film productions.

The Introduction to Independent Filmmaking, Camera Theory and Smartphone Filmmaking and Content Production workshops are recommended as prerequisites.

part 1: Tue 21 April 2026, 6 - 9 pm   
part 2: Thu 23 April 2026, 6 - 9 pm   
part 3: Tue 28 April 2026, 6 - 9 pm   
part 4: Thu 30 April 2026, 6 - 9 pm   
(Registration deadline is Tue 21 April 5:00 pm)

Instructor: Stephen Knifton

Stephen Knifton is a Toronto-born video producer and brand journalist. He began his career in network television news, working as a senior producer for the CBC in Toronto, and News Corp in New York City. He covered and produced multiple live and breaking news events; including 9/11, Gulf War, Iraq War, and has produced US election coverage and debates. He designed, created and produced a number of news and current affairs programs. Following a career in television news, he started an online video production company, and went on to produce digital content and brand journalism for a wide variety of architects, designers, business development groups, developers, non-profits and government agencies in both Toronto, New York City and DC. He teaches video production, video storytelling and post production at two different Toronto-area colleges, and won both a Peabody and an Emmy for his work in network news.



Location: Online
Category: Filmmaking Intensive
Maximum Capacity: 12
12 hours of instruction in 4 parts$200 /member$225 /nonmember
Registration opens
Tue 13 Jan at 10am